In today's Gospel follows the story of the young man who has been faithful to the law of Moses, and yet Jesus calls him to give up everything of this world and follow him. Today Peter says that he and the other apostles have done just that: followed the Law and given up everything to follow Jesus. It is almost as if, he is asking "Where is my reward?"
Jesus reassures Peter and us that he has done right, and that everything will be given back to him in the life to come, but that he should be prepared for persecutions and tribulations in this life before he can reach the next. Within Jesus' words is an echo from Job when trials and persecutions afflict Job, then he family is lost, and finally he is afflicted in body, yet Job remains faithful and is rewarded abundantly with great riches, wife and more children, and life. Is Jesus perhaps trying to make this correlation for Peter? That suffering in this world and becoming detached to temporal things will lead us to ever greater joy and the richness of the life to come? Perhaps.
St. Augustine wrote about the two Cities, the temporal city and the City of God existing with each other, how we can belong to both: living in this world yet simultaneously living in God's kingdom. Our priests and other religious are called to live that way, and thus are our living example. We find our greatest saints, both lay or religious are that same way, so we know it is possible. How can we strive to find that balance in our lives starting fresh today?
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